Mondaire Jones, the Democratic Representative for New York’s 17th Congressional District, has helped raise awareness around the monkeypox vaccine.
Jones, along with fellow Rep. Ritchie Torres (D), became the first out, gay, Black members of Congress when elected in 2021.
The current monkeypox outbreak disproportionately affects gay and bisexual men. Authorities in New York have also previously announced that more white men are getting vaccinated against the virus than those from Black and Hispanic communities.
Jones, 35, filmed himself having his second monkeypox shot.
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“Monkeypox is hitting LGBTQ+ communities of color particularly hard,” he said in an accompanying caption.
“The most effective way to stop the spread is to get vaccinated and to talk about it — to overcome stigma and misinformation. I did my part and got vaccinated. You should, too.”
The video shows him driven to a vaccination center and having the shot through the window of his car.
Monkeypox is hitting LGBTQ+ communities of color particularly hard.
The most effective way to stop the spread is to get vaccinated and to talk about it — to overcome stigma and misinformation.
I did my part and got vaccinated. You should, too. pic.twitter.com/7dSBe9TDcG
— Rep. Mondaire Jones (@RepMondaire) September 20, 2022
Jones, an attorney, lost his Democratic primary earlier this year to former impeachment counsel Dan Goldman in the 2022 Democratic primary, so will step down in the upcoming midterms.
New York has had over 3,700 monkeypox cases since late May. However, the outbreak is slowing down. The state is now averaging one new diagnosis a day. This is down from around 6 a day in mid-August.
Related: Monkeypox: New York City reports “steep decline” in new cases
STIs spiking across the US
Although the monkeypox figures are dropping in New York, the CDA this week released other figures of concern.
It says sexually-transmitted infections in the US continue to spike. Syphilis cases increased by 26% from 2020-2021, compared to a 7% increase in 2019-2020.
There were around 52,000 syphilis cases last year, a number not seen in the US since 1948. That was when antibiotics began to be widely used to treat the condition.
Rates of gonorrhea and chlamydia also both increased, by just over 4%. HIV diagnoses increased by 16%.
Men who have sex with men are disproportionately impacted by these infections.
Dr. Leandro Mena, the CDC’s director of STD prevention, says more must be done to tackle the rising numbers of STIs.
“We must work collectively to rebuild, innovate, and expand STI prevention in the US — to close existing gaps, create lasting change and realize this vision,” he said.
Monkeypox is not classified as a sexually-transmitted infection as it can also be spread by close contact. However, medical experts believe many of the recent cases in the US have come about through sexual encounters.
Related: Half of gay and bi men have reduced their sexual activity because of monkeypox
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Cam
Weird the right wing troll account hasn’t come in with it’s multiple screenames to attack this guy yet. Oh right, it’s deciding whether it hates him more because he’s Black or openly LGBTQ.
inbama
Good God, it’s like you miss your troll because you have nothing else to say.
Who could possibly complain about an out and proud gay man using his position to keep others healthy as opposed to some “influencer” who throws on some semi-drag clothes and make-up, looks ridiculous, but we all fall in line and praise him for “challenging the binary?” The side show has become the face of gay America, and us Dems are going to pay the price at the ballot box in November if we don’t fix it.
Bless you, Mr. Jones. May you wake up November 9 to a blue House and Senate.
Cam
@inbama
LOL!!! And right as predicted the troll account comes in with one of it’s screenames to complain about SOMETHING having to do with the LGBTW community.
As always, your troll game is sad and weak.
inbama
@Cam
Dear Scam,
The only thing I complained about was YOU which anyone can see.
At this point, you never say anything useful or intelligent – all you do is accuse people of using multiple screennames.
I suspect this is something YOU do to throw everyone off the scent.
Alternatively, you may just be mentally ill. In that case you have my sympathy, and i hope you seek professional help.
Fahd
That’s nice, but there’s a huge shortage of the vaccine that isn’t being reported. For example, this article is about encouraging gay men to get something that’s not available to the vast majority of them. Maybe things are different in New York, but in most every place in the US that I know about, the vaccine is being severely rationed; reserved for groups that meet specific criteria (for example, STI in last 3 months, sex worker, etc.) The average gay person, whether POC or not, can’t access the vaccine.
Why, in God’s name, this huge failure of the public health system in not having enough vaccine available is being twisted into articles encouraging people to get vaccinated is a mystery to me. Maybe it reflects a problem in journalism and the lack of investigative, or even thoughtful, journalism.
Hell in a handbasket….
inbama
They’ve got it at my Walgreens down here.
Just watch porn until they catch up at yours.
The new COVID booster for the latest strain is out now and available most everywhere. How many pandemics at once do you expect our drug-manufacturing infrastructure to deal with?
As for monkey pox, remember how gleeful Trump and his son-in-law Kushner were when New Yorkers were dying of COVID? Or how Reagan did NOTHING about AIDS?
Get a grip.
bachy
I got on the Monkeypox vaccine list the moment I heard it was available. Sent the local govt. announcement, including link to sign up, to everyone I knew. Many of the responses were positive, but as the weeks wore on it turned out a lot of the people who said they were getting it couldn’t be bothered after all.
After witnessing the COVID disaster up-close-and-personal, how could someone hesitate? I mean, it’s free, it takes like 5 minutes and it diminishes (at least a portion of the) anxiety attached to sexual encounters. Oh, and you can avoid getting a painful and disfiguring disease. Talk about benefits of the privileged!
Aside from problematic shortages, I simply don’t understand why anyone wouldn’t jump at the opportunity.
Kangol2
Such a disappointment that Mondaire Jones, a truly progressive Democrat, won’t be returning to Congress this fall and instead, the winner of his primary, Dan Goldman, who was hedging his bets on fully supporting a woman’s right to choose against forced birth, will very likely be elected in a landslide. As far as the monkeypox vax goes, I’m glad Jones is encouraging gay men to get vaccinated, but I also hope he is pushing the current administration to do more to ensure that the vaccine is far more widely available all over the US.
ShaunNJ
I appreciate Mondaire Jones is helping spread awareness and encouraging monkeypox vaccinations. It’s unfortunate he lost his district in Hudson Valley and did not win in Brooklyn – do keep an eye on him, great things will come from this brilliant, compassionate public servant.